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Smuggled genome transplant paves way for synthetic life

26 August 2009

ARTIFICIAL life pioneer Craig Venter and his team have smuggled an alien genome into unwitting bacterial cells. This takes them closer to creating microorganisms with synthetic genomes that are purpose built to carry out specific roles, such as making biofuels or hydrogen.

Venter’s team, based at the J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockville, Maryland, took the genome of one bacterium, Mycoplasma mycoides, copied it and transferred it to yeast for easier modification, and then implanted it into another bacterial species, Mycoplasma capricolum. However, the recipient cell recognised the modified genome as alien and destroyed it.